Tom Hogard, a.k.a. Tom the Sawyer of Eudora, KS, wasn’t sure what to do at first with a huge burr oak log left in his driveway in August 2015 by a tree service friend, “thinking he was doing me a big favor.”

How huge? Hogard estimated that the log was 3 to 4 feet in diameter, 11 feet long and weighed 5,000 pounds.

“This log was too big for my mill,” he said. “It laid here for almost two years. Clients would look at it, trying to figure how to use it. There were only three solutions: cut it up for firewood (which I resist); quarter it with a chainsaw and mill the quarters (with the irregular shape and all of the knots, it would be a nightmare); or chainsaw mill it into slabs – expecting either rot and decay, or fantastic grain patterns. ”

He ultimately decided to take his chances with the latter option, He called Dog Holler Custom Slabbing of Lecompton, KS, .to cut the log into slabs with a chainsaw mill. The timing couldn’t be better as a customer, who had been contacted by an interior designer who had previously specified one of his slab tables, needed at least three more.

Hogard said the video of the log being sawn that follows was edited from about a 3.5-hour process.